


God Says Nothing Back

by Samking



Series: In the Woods Somewhere [3]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: AU episode 35, Alternate Universe, Debbie - Freeform, F/M, M/M, The Shadowmaker - Freeform, The Void
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 04:14:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Samking/pseuds/Samking
Summary: The boys get two surprise phone calls, one is a bit more welcomed than the other.





	God Says Nothing Back

It started off with a phone call.

“Surprise,” came the very familiar voice of Jack’s slightly older-but-never-let him-live-it-down-that-he-was-younger-than-her-even-if-it-was-only-seventeen-months sister, Lily. There was a hint of smugness as if she knew exactly what she was doing by calling in. Jack hadn’t actually spoken to Lily in nearly a year and a half. Not since they had a huge falling out over what happened to Sammy.

“L-Lily?” Jack stuttered. “H-how are you calling in? How did you know that I was here on this radio station?”

“Uh, Jack, care to introduce the listeners to our caller?” Ben asked, he had a small frown on his face.

“I heard you left Denver,” Lily said as if it was common knowledge when Jack hadn’t actually told anyone that he was leaving Denver, never mind that he was coming up to King Falls. “I knew if you weren’t there, you were here. Plus, I’m a phenomenal journalist.”

“Researcher,” Jack corrected. “Investigator. But technically that wasn’t journalism. Not unless you published my whereabouts on that podcast of yours.” It was easy to fall back into the teasing banter with Lily. He had been doing it for so long, as long as he could remember. As a kid it had been Lily and Jack, two peas in a pod, never far from one another. Then they went to college and Sammy got added to the mix and their little duo became a trio. And then life had happened, and he and Sammy had gone to Denver while Lily had headed up to New York or Washington DC to do Wright On.

“Whatever, smarty-pants,” Lily grumbled.

“Uh Jack, introductions.” Ben said again.

“Oh, right, yeah. Uh, King Falls, this is my sister Lily Wright,” Jack said scratching at the back of his neck. His hair was getting long, when was the last time he’d cut it? Jack usually kept his hair short, long hair wasn’t conducive to playing rugby. Sammy had always had long hair though.

“Lily Wright, as in the acclaimed podcaster Lily Wright from Wright On?” Ben asked now sounding giddy. “Jack, you didn’t mention that your sister was famous.” Jack wanted to shrink into the chair he was sitting on, the only way this could be worse was if Lily was in studio.

For the most part over the last year and a half, Jack had tried to keep his life before King Falls pretty quiet. Sure, there had been the normal introductions of having just moved from Denver when he first got to the town. He spoke in vague terms about being a radio producer there, and that yes he liked hosting his own show. But he didn’t talk about his personal stuff, didn’t talk about his family, or Sammy, or details of his past about being a radio producer in the realm of shock jocks or being in the drive time segment in Tampa.

“I- uh-” Jack fumbled for the right words to say.

“Its okay, we had a bit of a falling out a few years back, and then an even bigger argument about a year and a half ago.” Jack’s chest clenched at Lily’s casual mention of their history. He felt guilty about leaving Lily to be Sammy’s producer in Denver, he always had. He knew he should have stuck by her. They had asked her; she was the one who had refused them. But he also felt some residual anger at Lily’s clear dismissiveness of his description of what had happened to Sammy. She fully believed that Sammy had cut his losses and ran because of Jack’s illness. That Jack had thought he had seen what he’d seen because he needed some way to rationalize why Sammy would have left him. It had been super patronizing, but so like Lily. And she had believed wholeheartedly that she was right and refused to even listen to him when he tried to explain his research to her, that he’d had proof of the Shadows.

“Oh, well- Jack’s great and we’re glad to have him here in King Falls,” Ben said a bit awkwardly glancing over at Jack. Jack didn’t make eye contact. “Are you- are you calling from the area, Lily or are you out of the tri-state area?”

“I’m calling from Big Pines actually.”

“What?” Jack demanded, his sister was here? What was she doing anywhere near King Falls, she didn’t believe in all the paranormal stuff like he did, certainly didn’t believe that Sammy was here.

“Yeah, the producers convinced Pippa that we should do a Wright On episode about King Falls, release it as our Halloween edition or something of the sort. Anyway, so I’m here to investigate the town and find out the stories behind all of the paranormal stuff and I figures since my little brother was here, I’d give him a call.”

“Well we’re glad you’re here. We’ve got a wonderful little town and we’ll probably see each other while you’re doing the show,” Ben replied, seeming genuinely happy to hear that they were doing an episode of Wright On about King Falls. Jack didn’t have the heart to burst that bubble by telling Ben that Lily was probably trying to debunk King Falls more than actually learn about it.

Suddenly Line 13 lit up as if they had hit the button to turn on the line. “Hello?” A very scared sounding female voice said over the line. “Is this King Falls Am radio station is that right?”

“Yes, it is,” Ben said and glanced over at Jack. “I didn’t know we could do two lines at once did you?”

“Nope.” Jack said. “Can we put you on hold for a quick second while we wrap up the current call that we’re on, Miss-”

“Debbie.” The caller said. “That’s fine, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, you’re fine. I think it was a systems malfunction on our part,” Jack said politely. He hit the button to have the line muted but the light wouldn’t turn off. “What the hell?”

“What is it?” Lily asked.

“It won’t mute.”

“Could I just- could I just stay on then?” Debbie asked.

Jack looked over at Ben who shrugged his shoulders. “Why not? If you don’t mind, Lily,” Ben said.

“The more the merrier.” Lily replied.

“Alright, well what can we do you for this evening?” Jack asked.

“Well I just moved in,” Debbie said. “It’s a nice little town here.”

“Isn’t it?” Ben said. “Lily, have you gotten to see much of the town yet? We just got in last night”

“Not really.” Jack rolled his eyes, of course his sister’s first thing to do when she got to King Falls was torment him over the radio. No matter how old he got she would always act like he was seven and she wanted the remote to watch Power Rangers instead of the X-Men cartoons.

“I- I don’t mean to be rude, but I was told to call you at this time.” Debbie said cutting in before Jack could remark on the fact that Lily had just arrived and already was bothering him. “I don’t know why do you?”

“Who told you to call us?” Jack asked. Who tells someone to call a radio station at nearly four in the morning? And who listens to someone who says that? They’d had plenty of callers who had never heard them before and were told by friends or family to stay up and listen, but there was something about Debbie’s tone that led Jack to believe this wasn’t the case.

“Then you don’t know. I’m so confused,” Debbie sighed. “I wasn’t told to call you specifically. I didn’t know it was a radio show. But I was given this number with a date and time to call you and now I- I don’t know. I thought you would be able to clear all this up.”

“Are you messing with us?” Ben asked, keeping his tone light. “Its okay if you are. We’re a radio show, we get a lot of crank callers.” They usually involved more giggling and references to horror movies, and not scared sounding women who claimed to have been told to call their number.

“Who told you to call us?” Jack asked, ignoring Ben’s question. Something in his gut told him to believe Debbie, that she was telling the truth.

“I don’t know, I’ve got this book and- I’m so confused.”

“Is it a-”

Jack cut Ben off, “Could you tell us about the book, Debbie?” He heard Lily snort in the background reminding him that she was still on the other line. What a great night this was turning out to be.

“I heard it before I saw it,” Debbie answered. “I was trying to go to bed tonight. I’ve just moved in, and I haven’t finished unpacking but I kept hearing this knocking. It was coming from upstairs, and it scared me.”

“Garbage Bears!” Ben shouted.

“What in the world are you talking about?” Lily asked. “She’s still talking about the book.”

“It’s his word for raccoon,” Jack explained. “I apologize for my co-host’s interruption. Please continue, Debbie.”

“Tiny devil claws.” Ben muttered as Debbie began talking again.

“I don’t have an upstairs.”

“Wait what?” Lily asked. “That doesn’t make any sense at all.”

“Lily,” Jack hissed. “Let her finish.”

“Well, as it turns out I have a crawl space or an attic, I guess it’s bigger than a crawl space. Anyway, I-”

“Have you been up there, Debbie?” Ben asked cutting her off again. Jack groaned internally, this poor woman was trying to tell a story to them, and everyone just kept interrupting her with their crazed and irrational fears about raccoons, and then their disbelief at what she was saying even though she had a perfectly reasonable explanation if everyone would just let her finish. “You do not want to get cornered by a rabid garbage bear.”

“It wasn’t a raccoon.” Jack nearly shouted. He turned back to look at the board at line thirteen, as if Debbie could see that he was now paying attention to her. “Did you go up there?”

“I did.”

Ben started rambling on about rabies and symptoms and more about garbage bears and Jack was two second from muting him. This was important, his heart stats, as Ben would put it, was telling him that this was important. “Ben, enough.” Jack said. “Not right now. Please continue, Debbie.” Jack watched as Ben deflated in his chair which made Jack feel bad, he would buy Ben breakfast at Rose’s to make up for being so harsh. These days Ben seemed to have only two dials though, Emily and whatever thing had gotten him worked up that day. It was staring to get a little exhausting on Jack’s part.

“I went up, and it was dark, but I found a little lamp thing and so I turned that on. And-”

“And?” Jack, Lily, and Ben said simultaneously.

“And there’s a room up there. Really old, like everything had an inch of dust on it. Small of course, but it’s decorated and everything. A bed, dolls, doll house, weird tiny hooks on the wall like you’d clip something onto it.”

“Did she say what area she lives in, Jack?” Ben asked.

“Not right now, Ben.” Jack said wishing that he would allow himself to bring his notebook to work like Ben did. But he was afraid he’d get too sucked into his thoughts, and abandon Ben like he had Sammy when it came to work. “What was making the noise, Debbie?”

“I- I wasn’t sure. I mean I did look for signs of squirrel or a rat but no tracks, no animals. I started looking around and then everything was just weird and off.”

“Oh God.” Ben moaned.

“Yeah, everything just gave me the creeps. All pastel colors and Victorian furniture vibe, lots of lace and stuff under the dust. Oh! And the dolls, the dolls were the worst, they all had their eyes scratched out. Like red marker xs on them.” Jack closed his eyes. Red eyes. It could mean nothing, lots of horror movies and ghost hauntings did similar things, it didn’t mean the Shadows. He hoped it didn’t mean the Shadows, for Debbie’s sake.

“So, you open the attic and you’ve got a classic horror movie on your hands. I suggest you seal the entrance and possibly kill it with fire,” Ben suggested.

“I feel like I should pop some popcorn,” Lily interjected as well. “I love a good horror story. Is this a normal thing for you, Jack?”

“Tell us about the book.” Jack said ignoring his friend and sister’s suggestions.

“There was a bookshelf by the little bed,” Debbie continued, “and there’s just one book on it.”

“Was it Death by Damnation?” Jack asked.

“No, it was a diary. What kind of name is that?” Debbie asked. Jack let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. It probably wasn’t the Shadows then, just more general King Falls weirdness. He could live with that.

“Don’t worry about it. Continue, please.”

“I think- I think that what was making the noise.” Debbie said, she spoke quietly now as if she wasn’t quite sure that she believed what she was saying. “Like it was- this sounds crazy, I know- I think it was drawing me to it.”

“Drawing you to it?” Jack asked, he hadn’t heard of any diary hauntings, not in King Falls at least.

“I have so many questions, I don’t know where to start,” Ben said throwing his hands up.

“Why not with keeping quiet and letting Debbie, finish. This is getting good,” Lily said with her patented snark that she was so famous for. Was that chewing Jack could hear, had she actually popped popcorn? Jack wouldn’t put it past her.

“I can’t prove it, but something made me go to this book,” Debbie continued.

“Do you have this diary in your possession?” Jack asked.

“Yes.”

“How do you know it’s a diary?”

“Well I started reading it. It had a little heart shaped lock on it. But it crumbled apart when I touched it.” Metal didn’t do that, Jack had never heard of a instance when metal crumbled away like that. Not unless it was really hot and then generally it metaled not crumpled. “I mean I was going to break the lock, one-hundred percent. I had to know what this was, but it just opened.”

“So you’ve read it?” Jack asked. “Can I ask you who it belonged to?”

“I haven’t read it all. Just sporadically. I can’t make out the last name, but the girl’s name is Nancy. It’s completely filled up, front and back on every page it looks like. But I haven’t really gotten deep into it yet. It seems familiar though.”

“So how did the diary lead to your weird ass phone call?” Lily asked.

“Well I don’t know the why, but the how it’s connected is easy. I was coming down from the attic with the book and it fell out of my hands. I close the attic and bent to pick it up and the diary was open. The phone number was on the page in bold letters.”

“Just the number?” Ben asked.

“No. There was a lot of other writing. Some of it was symbols like hieroglyphic looking but most were names, dates, scribbles.” Jack didn’t like the sound of this anymore. Hieroglyphics made him think of his book, the things that were said about the Shadowmaker in it. About the Void. But a diary? That was the part that didn’t make any sense- how did these hieroglyphics end up in the diary of some young girl? “It’s a little serial killer-y. Like- I don’t know- I don’t know like the vibe.”

“I don’t like the vibe either.” Ben pipped up. “Did it have our twitters in there?”

“I don’t know what that means.” Debbie sounded confused by what Ben was saying. Jack found himself deepening his frown, his foot started tapping in a weird combination of anxiety and anticipation. How did Debbie not know about Twitter? She didn’t sound elderly, and even if she was, Twitter had been around for few years even geriatrics were bound to have heard about it by now. “Everything in the book seems old, so old so I don’t know.”

“There were other dates, numbers, and names, Debbie?” Jack asked. “Can you tell us some of the names?”

“Don’t do this, Jack.” Ben said. “This is raising the stalker level from yellow to neon freaken orange.”

“Lots of names. Nancy, of course, there was an Eddie, Edith, Howard, Tim, Mary, both of you, Ben and Jack. There was an Emily-”

“Emily!” Ben said nearly flying out of his seat.

“Wait,” Jack cautioned. “Let’s hear more.”

“This isn’t a cosmic coincidence, Jack. Our number was in this book, Emily’s name was in that book. I need this book,” Ben said nearly insisting. “Can you come by the station?”

“You can’t have it,” Debbie said, suddenly sounding stranger than she had been the entire night. This was the point, Jack knew, in the horror film when the creepy little girl’s head started spinning farther than a human neck should allow. Jack always ended up in Sammy’s lap when that happened.

“I’m sorry what?” Ben asked.

“You can’t have it,” Debbie repeated.

“Uh, I mean okay, I can come to you. But I don’t get off until the morning guy. I’d really like to get started on this.”

“My name is in this book too, a lot. There are names in this book that pertain to me, only me. I’m scared.”

“There’s nothing to be scared of.” Jack said reassuringly.

“It made me- I had to make this phone call. The diary it knows things about me, I assume about you. Deep, dark things. Jack, it knows about Sammy.”

“What?” Lily asked.

“Whose Sammy?” Ben asked looking towards Jack. Jack shook his head. He couldn’t talk about him right now, not with her on the line. The diary was sounding very much like it was more malevolent than he had initially thought.

“You haven’t told him about Sammy?” Lily asked incredulously. “Unbelievable, I knew he was a coward, but I never pegged you for one either.”

“Enough, Lily,” Jack ordered. “I’ll dump your call.”

“Fine, coward.”

“Who made you call, Debbie?” Jack asked trying to deflect Ben from the news of Sammy. It wouldn’t take much for Ben to google and find Sammy and him online. To find articles about Sammy’s disappearance, ‘Popular Saturday night radio personality goes missing’ and what not.

“I don’t know who or what did. I just… felt it. I felt it was pointing your number to me. I was hoping you’d have answers not more questions.”

A thump sounded from the line and then a yelp from Debbie. “Debbie?” Jack called.

“Are you okay?” Ben asked.

“I don’t think I’m alone,” Debbie said breathlessly.

“You need to get out of that house,” Ben said.

“The diary,” Debbie continued as if she hadn’t heard what Ben had said.

“Debbie, are you okay?” Jack asked. He didn’t like that some poor, innocent women had gotten caught in the Shadowmaker’s schemes too. Something bad was going to happen and he was going to be helpless to help her like he had been with Sammy, with Tim, and even with Emily.

“God, the book just flew out of my hands. I can’t- Oh dear Lord, I come to you-” Debbie started praying as a loud crashing sound echoed around her and she yelped again.

“I’ll call Troy.” Jack said.

“Debbie, where do you live?” Ben asked. “Debbie?”

“Fourteen twenty-eight Old Sycamore Canyon Lane. The book!”

“What’s it doing, Debbie?” Jack asked as he put down his phone to call Troy.

“I started to pray and the book flew and hit the wall. It broke a crucifix. Oh my god.”

“Troy, are you listening to tonight’s show?” Jack asked, stepping away from the microphone a little.

“The pages are flipping by themselves. It’s in the corner of my room and its just going from front to back, over and over again.”

“Debbie, you need to get out of there.” Jack heard Ben say as he spoke to Troy. He relayed her address and what was going on since Troy had been listening earlier but hadn’t heard the last few minutes. Jack could hear Debbie’s pleas not to hang up on her, and Ben’s promises that he wouldn’t. She sounded terrified, and he could now hear the books pages turning back and forth even though he was away from the headset.

“Troy, you need to hurry.” Jack said.

“I am, I am, Sycamore Canyon lane got it, I’m on my way.” Troy promised.

“Thank you.” He heard Ben talk about the name Fletcher as he came back to the other side of the room. “Troy’s off tonight but he said he would head straight over.” Jack said sitting down in his chair and putting his headphones back on.

“Say that name, Debbie,” Ben gently ordered. Debbie said something Jack didn’t quite catch as he finished sliding the headphones back on. “Me too.” Ben replied to whatever she had just said.

“Nancy!” Debbie called out. “Nancy Fletcher!” Jack heard another cracking noise and the pages beginning to turn loudly.

“What just happened?” Ben asked.

“The book just slammed into the wall again,” Debbie cried.

“Who is Nancy Fletcher?” Jack asked. He wasn’t familiar with that particular name.

“Its her diary, man,” Ben said as if Jack should know this.

“Go on.”

“It’s not good,” Ben shook his head.

“The book opened to a page,” Debbie sounded out of breath as she spoke. “And stopped, Ben.”

“Can you run out of the room?” Ben asked.

“It stopped right in front of the door; I can’t get past it.” Jack shook his head. He wanted this call to end, he needed it to end. More than anything else that he had encountered since starting at the radio station, this call freaked him out. It was a horror movie and the Shadows all wrapped up into one compressed phone call. “Why did it do that for that name?”

“I don’t know for a fact,” Ben said, “Legend has it, back in the fifties, that her family moved to King Falls. That subdivision in fact. She was a girl- a little girl. Used to play in the circle with her sister and her friends until- until she didn’t. She- she disappeared.” Jack closed his eyes trying to dispel the vision of the shadows coming down from the roof of the bungalow, an unsuspecting Sammy below.

“This is her diary?” Jack asked, there was no way this was the diary of some young girl who had been taken in the fifties. Not with everything Debbie had mentioned tonight, not unless the Shadows were involved with it somehow. That was the only way. Not even a vengeful spirit of a child would have that kind of information.

“Please tell me this story has a happy ending,” Debbie begged.

“They never found her?” Jack asked.

“Not alive,” Ben replied, “the man at the end of the street, he was… a bad man. That house looked, let’s not get into this.”

“Oh God, oh God, Ben,” Debbie cried. Jack could hear the pages turning again.

“I’m here.”

“What’s happening?” Jack asked.

“There’s- there’s something coming out of the diary. Leaking from the pages to the floor.” She cried. Shadows. It had to be the shadows. But if Debbie was that close, there was nothing they could do. The Shadows were going to take her too.

He could hear Ben trying to help her, but all Jack could think about was the way the Shadows moved. Silently, unnaturally, a reminder that there was nothing preventing the light from touching them except themselves. An inky void, darker than most other shadows. It was your only warning.

And then he heard the voice. The strange voice who had been in his voice mails, that had appeared in the hiker’s voice recordings. Jack wasn’t sure if it was the Shadowmaker himself or just an agent. But he was connected to it all, to the Void, to Sammy, to everything else.

And then Debbie’s voice changed, she went from being the panicked young woman who had something straight out of a horror film happening in her bedroom to an affect tone. “Only darkness. The man, he is here. The Darkness is spreading, is taking hold. He came for him and her, and her, and me, and now-”

“You!” The deep raspy voice that haunted Jack’s nightmares shouted.

“Debbie, Debbie?” Ben asked, looking at Jack like he was really freaking out.

“Come,” that raspy voice said suddenly, “get your book, Ben. You wanted to talk, me too. We’re watching, come get the book. It knows all. It is all.”

“Hang up the phone, Ben. Hang it up now!” Jack cried, not Ben too. There was no way it was going to get Ben too.

“I’m waiting. We’re waiting.”

“How did you know?” Ben asked, his voice dark and angry. “How Did You Know?”

“See you soon, Benjamin Arnold. And I haven’t forgotten about you too, Jack Wright. Bring the book.”

“How Do You Know! God Damnit!” Ben shouted.

“Ben,” Jack said trying to calm his friend down. He knew that Ben was worked up about Emily, that he wanted information that was in that book, but Jack needed Ben to understand that the Shadows weren’t something you messed with. Ben couldn’t go. “Sit down, just, let’s take a break. I think we need a breather.”

“How did he know?” Ben asked slumping back into his seat, his voice more desperation than anger now.

“I don’t know.” Jack said shaking his head.

“He knew you too.”

“What the fuck was that?” Lily asked, Jack nearly jumped out of his seat, he had forgotten Lily had still been on the other line. “Jack, what book did he want from you?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Jack said feeling Ben’s eyes on him. “He’s not getting it.”

“Jack, what aren’t you telling us- me?” Ben asked softly.

Jack shook his head; he couldn’t just say it. Not here, not right now. He wanted to tell Ben, he had wanted to tell Ben about Sammy for a long time, since before Emily’s abduction, but he just- Lily was right, he was a coward. He was so used to living in the closet that he didn’t have the words to just come out. Especially not after the emotional roller coaster that had just been Debbie.

Just before Jack could say anything the hotline rang scaring them both again, this time it was Troy and he was none too happy that he had come out on his night off only to find nothing. “What’s that laughing Troy?” Jack asked hearing something in the background of Troy’s call.

“You boys are good.” Troy said, “That’s damn fine ventriloquism you guys are pulling, but I- I don’t appreciate being…”

“Listen to us Troy, we aren’t doing anything.” Ben said. “You’ve got to get out of there, scary shit just happened.” The laughter was getting louder and Jack knew exactly what it was.

“Get out of there Troy,” he implored. “Just get in your car and drive away. I’m sorry I asked you to go out, we were being pranked ourselves. Just go home.” Not Troy too.

“What in the world is that?” Troy asked, “I recant my doubt. Somethen is a a foot, boys. Let me just break out the old trusty Maglite, and we’ll take care of this situation.”

“Troy! Get out of there now!” Ben exclaimed.

“Oh my God, boys, I’ve got to get out of here. There’s a shadow just a flowen out of the ground. It’s fifteen-foot-high if it’s an inch, I tell you. It’s a nightmare tornado, and I ain’t sticken around to see what happens.” Jack could hear the sounds of Troy running back to his car. Muttering to himself about the situation.

“Troy did you get out of there?” Jack asked after a few moments.

“Yeah, I’m okay boys, I’m driving away now,” Troy replied. “Don’t you worry about me.”

“Folks, I think we’re going to cut to a break.” Ben said, “Thanks for listening to our creepy ass night.”

“Hey Lily,” Jack said knowing that his sister was still on the line.

“Yeah,”

“Welcome to King Falls.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this. I'm super excited about where this AU is going. And thank you for all your kind comments and kudos, they made my very rough and busy week last week.


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